By Tatenda Dewa | Harare Bureau |
President Robert Mugabe’s government has announced a replacement for Christopher Mutsvangwa who chaired the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) but faces legal action against the move.
Mutsvangwa is leading a mass of war veterans that is now fiercely opposed to Mugabe’s rule and prefers his deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to take over from the 92-year-old ruler before the next general elections in 2018.
Tshinga Dube, the Welfare Services minister for war veterans told government-controlled media at the weekend that government no longer recognised Mutsvangwa as the ZNLWVA chairperson because he had been expelled from the ruling Zanu PF.
A group of 60 war veterans thought to comprise a camp opposed to the Mutsvangwa leadership, Dube said, met in Harare last Monday, after which the decision to nudge the vocal ex-combatants chair out was made.
The group included senior securocrats, among them Paradzayi Zimhondi, the prisons boss, police deputy commissioner general, Levi Sibanda and the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) chief of staff, Douglas Nyikarayamba who are reportedly opposed to Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa has enjoyed the backing of more senior generals, among them defence forces commander, Constantino Chiwenga.
This could indicate deep-seated divisions within the security sector over the succession issue in Zanu PF.
Dube said Robert Ncube, a retired colonel and war veteran, had replaced Mutsvangwa ahead of a congress to elect a new leadership.
The ZNLWVA congress, however, was due in three years.
Mutsvangwa has already indicated that he will legally challenge the decision to replace him and has engaged lawyers to represent him.
“Our client advised us that you have unnecessarily and unlawfully appointed Mr Robert Ncube in the office of acting chairman while Mr Chris Mutsvangwa is still holding the office.
“We, therefore, have been instructed to demand, as we hereby do, that you revoke the aforementioned purported appointment in writing within seven working days of your receipt of this letter, failing which we have instructions to take appropriate legal action against you and anyone who may have taken part in the making of that decision,” said Mutsvangwa’s lawyers.
In an apparent contradiction, Dube, though, acknowledged that Mutsvangwa was still the war vets’ leader.
“I think they (lawyers) have jumped the gun because we also recognise that Cde Mutsvangwa is still their leader in terms of what was granted by the courts.
“What we are doing is guided by the vision of our patron, President Mugabe, who wants war veterans to be united. They cannot be united if the interests of individuals are put first ahead of the interests of the thousands of other war veterans,” said Dube.
This contradiction was repeated by the war vets ministry secretary, Walter Tapfumaneyi.
“He (Mutsvangwa) remains the chairman of the association, but his position has become untenable because war veterans are an affiliate of Zanu-PF. The party has a say on how the association is led. We are looking for a workable solution to an unusual situation,” said Tapfumaneyi.
Government also claimed that the current war veterans’ association was using a constitution that had been suspended in 2014. Nehanda Radio
